Arrow: Caity Lotz on What's Next for Black Canary, as The League of Assassins Arrives

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What's to come for the character, including her Ra's al Ghul connection.

By Eric Goldman

Spoiler warning: If you haven’t seen the most recent Arrow episode, "The Crucible," it’s about to be spoiled for you!

Season 2 of Arrow has gotten off to a very strong start, with the show delivering a lot of great new twists and turns. One of the biggest new elements this season has been the introduction of DC Comics’ Black Canary – or the Canary, if you will – who has taken to Starling City’s streets to fight crime alongside Oliver Queen.

It's now been revealed that Canary (played by Caity Lotz) is actually -- last chance to look away if you’re not caught up! -- Sara Lance, Laurel Lance’s sister, who was previously believed to be dead. But not only is Sara alive, she is quite the dangerous badass, and name dropping DC Comics' Ra's al Ghul, no less.

This Wednesday’s new Arrow, called "League of Assassins", is another big one for Canary, and I spoke to Caity Lotz about what it’s been like to take on this integral role on the series.

Caity Lotz as Sara Lance / Black Canary in Arrow.

IGN TV: So is it a relief for you now that the cat is out of the bag as far as Sara Lance is concerned?

Caity Lotz: Yeah, it’s exciting. I couldn’t really talk about it before. I couldn’t even talk with my friends about the character. So now that that’s out, it’s definitely fun for me.

IGN: Sara is important to so many of the characters on Arrow. Oliver knows she’s back, but how long is she going to try to continue to keep her presence a secret from her family?

Lotz: I think it’s important to her. After everything that’s happened to her, she doesn’t really feel like she’s worthy of love anymore. So the thought of her coming back into her family’s life doesn’t feel like it would be anything good for them. So it’s something she’s going to try not to do. Deep down, I think there’s definitely that wish that she could, but there’s just so many things. The next episode will be a lot of fun because we get to see that there’s a danger to her family with the League of Assassins, so she has to confront some things.

IGN: The League of Assassins is a group with some deep history in DC Comics. And we’ve heard you directly say Ra’s al Ghul’s name now…

Lotz: Yeah, they’re the best of the best when it comes to being fighters and being killers, and Sara’s a pretty good fighter, so it'll be interesting as they reveal more of her relationship with the assassins. There’s actually something really exciting... I, of course, don’t want to give anything away, but there’s some really exciting connections with Sara and R’as al Ghul.

Stephen Amell and Caity Lotz in Arrow.

IGN: What’s in been like for you joining this show and seeing the excitement of comic book fans, as they learned who you were going to play and how you’re involved in the story?

Lotz: It’s so cool. It’s kind of like sports. You know how everybody gets really excited about sports or the World Series or this or that? I feel like with comic books, you kind of get the same thing, which is so awesome because it’s great to get excited about something. When you have such a dedicated fanbase and people are so involved with what’s going on with the characters, you just feel so connected with everybody, like you’re a part of it with them.

IGN: Can you talk a bit about how her relationship is going to be evolving with Oliver? They have an extremely tense history, and now she’s back in his life in such a different way.

Lotz: I think Sara’s definitely still wary. She’s wary of anyone and everything. There’s this darkness that’s just looming over her. You see that in the scene where Sara takes Oliver’s hand in the hospital. Even then, to see someone that actually cares for her, and Oliver’s being so honest and open…. He just wants what’s best for her, and she has a hard time accepting it. So I think her darkness is gonna definitely make things difficult. Also, their shared history together, which we’ll find out more about, is very heavy.

IGN: How familiar were you with Black Canary as a character before this, and how much have you learned about her since you’ve joined the show?

Lotz: I wasn’t too familiar with her. I’d heard of the Black Canary before, just from the comic book world. DC sent me a bunch of comics, which was a lot of fun, getting to read some of those. But I really like to create my own idea of the character so I can bring as much of myself to it as I can.

IGN: What is it like actually putting on that costume?

Lotz: It’s so great. It’s a lot like Halloween. You know how exciting it is get dressed up in a Halloween costume and go running around? It’s kinda like that.

Canary (Caity Lotz) gets her fight on in this week's Arrow, "League Of Assassins"

IGN: Where do you stand on the great debate of our time - “fishnets versus no fishnets”?

Lotz: Well, you see in the costume we kind of have on the pants leather Xs. So there is a little homage being paid to the fishnets. But I think now, who Sara is, it just doesn’t seem like she would go fighting in fishnets. I think it would be a little chilly.

IGN: I agree. You don’t see Oliver in fishnets.

Lotz: Yeah!

IGN: In the comics, it’s Laurel, or “Dinah”, who is Black Canary. The show is making an interesting change here with Sara. Should we make any assumptions that inevitably it must be Laurel becoming Canary?

Lotz: I think assuming makes an ass out of you and me [Laughs], so it’s best to not assume and just kind of roll with it. It’s a lot of fun to be surprised, so I think let’s let ourselves be surprised and see what happens.

IGN: There seems to be a very close bond between Sin and Sara. Will we see more of that in the coming weeks?

Lotz: Yeah, they’re both kind of outcasts in their own right. They’ve found this dear little friendship together. Sin’s such a sweet character, and she’s tough, but she’s a good soul. I think Sara really connects to that. Sin’s going to have a nice presence on the show, which will be cool. Hopefully we’ll get to develop a lot of that between Sara and Sin, because Sin doesn’t really know Sara. She mostly knows her as the Canary.

IGN: You have this really impressive dance background [as seen in the video below!]. Have you been able to incorporate that into what you’re doing as Canary on the show?

Lotz: Yeah, it’s definitely come in handy. I have a martial arts background [too], so it’s cool for me to be able to use it on the show and get to do some of the fight scenes. I hadn’t fought with a bo staff before, so that was something new to learn, which was a lot of fun. That was new for me. I got a lot of bumps and bruises from whacking myself with it. [Laughs]

But also in this one, I have a stunt double, which I’ve never had before. So it’s kind of interesting to have that, because of time and also safety. It’s crazy how much we get done on the show, and this schedule is intense. There are times when I’m shooting one scene and then they have my stunt double shooting the fight scene, because we have so much to do.